TOW Too Much Loving
by imagineif
Summary: Ross is recovering from a broken leg, and tired of Emily and Monica keeping him in cotton wool, so when Rachel and Joey offer an unscripted day out, he's ready... The adventurers return.
1. Cabin Fever

**TOW too much loving**

AN: Between _TOW Ross Catches up With Emily_ and _TOW The Cooking Lessons_. At this stage, Ross is still recovering from the broken leg he suffered in _TOW Ross Catches up With Emily_, which he got after colliding with a minivan when he chased Emily at the Airport. Everyone has returned to New York, but Emily and Monica are acting as though Ross is still seriously ill, and the patient is getting very restless...

**Wrapped in Cotton Wool **

'Are you alright darling?' Emily asked. Ross was sitting in front of the television set. He had his feet up, and was covered with a blanket. He had a side table with a tray, which held a bowl of soup that Monica had made. Emily was dressed ready to go shopping and

'I'm fine sweetie, really.'

'Would you like a cup of coffee?' Emily asked.

'No, I'm fine, thanks.'

'Are you sure you can see the television set properly?' she asked, and straightened up the set before he could say yes or no. Ever since he had come out of hospital, she had fussed over every little thing. That had been important when he could at first hardly move, and when they had been on the plane back, and even in the first couple of weeks since they'd been back in New York.

The other reason that he hadn't felt the fussing was so bad was that the early weeks had partly been taken up with the problem of what to do about Rachel. Her letter had been embarrassing, but had also been sad, and he didn't know what to do with her, not only because he had to be careful of her feelings, but also he had to be careful of Emily's. He'd already lost a fight with a minivan over that. Then there had been Joey's attitude, though fortunately that had been a short lived problem. Some kind of truce had been arranged with Rachel, and now he could concentrate on getting better, if only Emily, Monica, and his mother wouldn't keep him wrapped in cotton wool…

'Would you like me to turn the heater on?' Emily asked.

'No!' Ross exclaimed, 'No, thanks don't touch it. If anything I'm too hot.' Emily rushed forward. 'Let me take that blanket away.'

'No, no,' Ross said, but Emily took it off his legs and folded it.

'I'll put it here, where you can get it if you want.'

'Thankyou sweetie but I could have done that myself.'

'Nonsense,' Emily said, 'You must look after yourself.'

'I need some exercise,' Ross said.

'You can do that with the physiotherapist,' Emily said firmly, 'That way, you'll do it properly and you won't injure yourself. You don't want that, do you?'

'No,' he said, 'But I'm not going to injure myself by taking a blanket off may legs.'

'Oh Ross,' Emily laughed, and gently kissed his forehead. That was another thing. Her touch was wonderfully gentle, but he wanted something passionate, once in a while. He wasn't that fragile.

The doorbell chimed, and Emily let Monica in. Monica rushed up to him.

'How are you, Ross?'

'I'm fine,' he said, as Monica unfolded his blanket and put it over his legs. 'I don't want – ' but she didn't listen to what she wanted.

'Do you want that soup reheated?' Monica said, picking up the bowl.

'How nice of you to ask,' Ross said.

'I just reheated it,' Emily said. Ross suddenly wished that she would tell Monica to back off. Anyone else might have been offended if someone came along and implied that she wasn't looking after her husband properly by serving him cold soup. But Emily and Monica just complimented each other's fussing, even as they undid each other's work. He was being attacked on both sides, and there was no appeal. Thank goodness his mother had a cold because the three of them together were a nightmare.

'Will you be all right Ross?' Monica said, 'We can postpone our shopping trip.'

'No!' Ross exclaimed. If they postponed their shopping trip they would stay at home and watch him. Emily alone was one thing – he could distract her – but she and Monica together… 'You two go out and enjoy yourselves,' he said. And reluctantly, they did.

Ross changed the channels to see if there was something better on, and he was in the middle of his programme when the doorbell chimed. It was his mother! He struggled up off the sofa and hobbled to the door using his crutches. He was surprised to see Rachel and Joey.

'Hey,' he said.

'How you doin?'

'Hi Ross,' Rachel said, still a bit shy. 'We thought we might drop by, seeing as…'

'Seeing that my wife isn't here,' Ross said, his momentary happiness at seeing them both suddenly gone. If they couldn't adjust to the fact that he'd married Emily, then it was going to be hard staying friends with them. It wasn't Emily's fault there were problems, and their attitude to her personally offended him. Rachel might still have residual feelings, but she'd have to get over them. Joey didn't even have that as an excuse.

'You're on your own man,' Joey said, 'We came to keep you company.'

'I can survive on my own thanks,' Ross said, irritated, 'Why does everyone think I can't cope? I had an accident, just a little accident.'

'It wasn't a little accident,' Joey said.

'Okay, it was not a little accident, but it was a while ago. I'm not in hospital any more.'

'No,' Rachel said.

'So I can do things on my own. I can even be alone.'

'We never said you couldn't be,' Rachel said. 'Calm down.' Ross sighed.

'I'm sorry, I'm just getting cabin fever.'

'You don't go out much?' Rachel asked. Ross shook his head.

'Why don't we go out?' Joey said. 'You haven't been to Central Perk since you've been back.'

'Yeah,' Rachel said, 'Why not?'

'But Emily and Monica…'

'What about them?' Rachel asked. Ross knew that they wouldn't approve.

'Just leave them a note,' Joey said. Could he go out? Did he dare? Did he ever!


	2. Ingratitude

**A singular lack of gratitude**

The escape was made and the three of them were now at Central Perk, but Ross was feeling drunk on adventure. While cooped up in hospital and then in the apartment, with very limited outings, he imagined a world where everything was going on, and he was missing out. Okay, he did have a broken leg, and a sense of adventure was somewhat unprecedented, but he was ready for it. And what was happening? He was here, at Central Perk, and nothing at all was happening. He watched one of the desultory daytime people walk across the room. That wasn't exciting it was...

'This is tame,' he said, startling the other two.

'What?' Joey said.

'What do you mean, tame?' Rachel said, feeling irked at the criticism. It had been no picnic getting him to Central Perk. She had had enough exertion for the time being. She had piously told herself that she would have put herself out more than Emily to get Ross out of the apartment – that was, until she'd done it herself.

'Well I have been here since I got back to New York,' Ross said. He had been brought down to the cafe a few times, and had enjoyed it very much - then. But now that he was fired up, he wanted something more. To come here when he was out without leave, as it were, was hardly pushing the envelope.

'Yes,' Joey said, not really getting what he was on about, 'but that wasn't at ten in the morning. You are doing something different.'

'It looked better at six in the evening,' Ross said.

'Well that's gratitude,' Rachel said with disgust. 'After all the effort we made to get you down here. It wasn't easy you know - I don't want to negotiate anything with that old lady on the stairs again - you could make an effort to be pleasant yourself.'

'Yeah,' Joey said. The old lady in question had hit him with her walking stick. 'We'll put you back in the apartment and tie you to your chair. Then you'll find it tame.'

'Yeah,' Rachel said evilly, 'And we'll call your mother.'

'You can't do that,' Ross said, but his nerves betrayed him. Emily and Monica were nothing as to his mother.

'Oh we can,' Rachel said, amused at his reaction.

'She's sick, she's got a cold, you can't do that.'

'But if you need her, she will come,' Rachel said.

'No…' Ross said faintly, 'Come on guys, you're joking right?' He wasn't sure whether that was a hint of a smile on Rachel's and Joey's faces, so he continued, 'Stop joking, really, that's enough. What I meant was, now that we've had time for coffee, I'd like to go and do something different. Go somewhere I haven't been since I got back.'

'We could catch a movie,' Rachel said.

'I've seen lots of TV,' Ross said. 'That'll be much the same.'

'I guess,' Rachel said.

'What about Coney Island?' Joey said brightly.

'Are you nuts?' Rachel exclaimed turning on Joey, 'Ross can't go there, he's got a broken leg!'

'I'd love to go to Coney Island,' Ross said. This was a lot more like it.

'Oh come on,' Rachel said, turning to him in disbelief. 'You don't even like those kinds of rides.'

'Some of them I do,' Ross said, trying to stand up, 'And I can learn to like the ones I didn't like.'

'What the hell happened to you in that accident?' Rachel demanded. 'Did you hit your head as well?'

'I'm just realising I should make the most of things,' Ross said. 'When you've survived a minivan you realise that you can survive anything.'

'You're not immortal, you know,' Rachel said. She wondered how long this mood would last.

'Call a cab,' instructed Ross, 'Let's go.'

'And to think we were feeling sorry for him,' Rachel said to Joey as they left Central Perk.

**The note is not noticed**

Monica and Emily had both had Ross at the backs of their minds while they were out, so they did their shopping as quickly as possible to return to the invalid.

'I hope he's all right,' Emily said, on the way back.

'I know,' Monica said. 'He can be a bit helpless on his own.'

'Maybe I shouldn't have gone shopping,' Emily fretted.

'He should have been able to manage,' Monica said, unconvincingly. 'You know, you have to train him not to be so dependent. He's got to learn to be independent.'

'I know. I just hope he's warm enough. I'm not sure if the heater was close enough to him.'

'He does have the blanket,' Monica said doubtfully.

'I'm not sure that it would be enough. Although, it hasn't been very cold.'

'The drafts in the apartment though…'

So they both arrived at the apartment, in their view, not a minute too soon. Monica and Emily put the shopping bags on the coffee table, on top of the note that Ross had left.

'Ross?' Emily called, and was surprised to see that he was not where he had been left.

'Bathroom?' Monica suggested.

'Ross?' Emily called, towards the bathroom. 'I wish he had waited.'

'You've got to go when you've go to go,' Monica said.

'I should have suggested he went before we went shopping. The bathroom tiles can be slippery,' Emily called his name again.

'Ross?' Monica called, louder. This was odd. They'd have expected some kind of answer. She knocked on the bathroom door. 'Are you all right in there?' Emily was at the door with her ear pressed against it.

'I can't hear a thing.'

'What should we do?' Monica said.

'If he's had a fall and hit his head, he could be unconscious. I hope he hasn't locked the door.' She opened it, to find the bathroom empty.

'Oh, Emily,' Monica said, with a laugh, 'You know what he's done? He must have gone to lie down for a nap.'

'Of course,' Emily said. 'We should keep our voices down. I'll just check to see if he's all right.' She tiptoed over to the bedroom door and peeped in. Turning to Monica, she said, 'He's not there. Where can he be?' Monica raced around the other areas of the apartment, checking behind furniture. Emily checked under the bed and in the wardrobe. She joined Monica in the kitchen.

'He's not here! He's missing!'


	3. Missing

**Missing**

Monica of course, wanted to see for herself, checking in all the places Emily had looked, even some of the ones she'd overlooked, owing to the fact that Ross was a six foot man wearing a plaster cast on his leg.

'He has gone,' Emily said, wide eyed.

'Okay, okay, let's not panic,' Monica said, sounding more confident than she felt, 'He probably went down to the corner store for something.'

'But for what? We were going shopping. He already gave me a list of stuff he wanted,' Emily objected. 'I got him everything on the list. He knows I'd be getting him everything on the list.'

'Maybe he forgot something,' Monica said. 'You have to admit it's a possibility. He wouldn't like to wait.'

'That's true,' Emily said, 'He'd want it right away. Let's go down and see if he's at the corner shop.'

**Coney Island**

_Picture Ross, Rachel and Joey at the Go Kart rides:_

_'I am not going to let that man in my Go Karts,' the operator said._

_'Come on man, his leg is already broken,' Joey cajoled, 'What harm could it do?'_

_'He's got another leg,' the Go Kart man said. 'What if he breaks that one and sues me?'_

_'I won't,' Ross said, 'I'll drive carefully.' The operator stared at him. _

_'You'll drive a Go Kart, carefully?'_

_'Oh yeah, of course, I will, I'm a very careful person,' Ross said._

_'Except when crossing roads,' Rachel murmured. Ross glared at her. The operator said incredulously,_

_'Mister, you can't drive a Go Kart carefully. It's about smashing one car into another. Why don't you try the Tea Cups instead?'_

_'I'm a grown man, if I want to ride the Go Karts I will!' Ross exclaimed. A four car pile up occurred. All four watched the ensuing mess. _

_'C'mon Ross,' Rachel said, not liking this ride at all, and leading him away. 'You had your fun on the swing rides. Let's go do something else.'_

**Central Perk**

Ross had not been at the corner shop, but when they returned to the apartment, to consider their next move, they had had an interesting encounter with the old lady who lived in the building, the one who went shopping several times a day for a few items of groceries at a time.

'That was your husband?' asked the lady.

'Yes,' Emily said, 'You've seen him today.'

'You poor dear,' said the old lady, 'He must be a terrible trial to you. I'd blame his friends.'

'What friends?' Emily asked.

'The two who were with him. A man and a woman. I didn't like the look of those two, especially the man. He looked like a con artist. I hit him with my stick you know. I hope they haven't gone off with your life savings' She waved it around to demonstrate, only just missing Monica.

'Two people took him away?' Emily confirmed. 'What did they look like?'

'There was a young man, clean shaven with short dark hair, a bit plump, and there was a skinny woman with light hair.'

'Joey? Rachel?' Monica said involuntarily.

'Thanks for your help,' Emily said. She and Monica, without needing to discuss it, changed their steps for Central Perk.

'Joey and Rachel?' Monica said again, but more nervously. Under the circumstances, it was better that Rachel keep her distance from Ross, although she was with Joey, so that made it less of an issue. At least, she hoped it would be less of an issue with Emily.

'So they've taken him out,' Emily said.

'It could have been someone else.'

'Who else would it be? If it was Phoebe, the woman would have said blonde. Of course the man…'

'Chandler's not plump,' Monica said firmly, 'Not in the slightest.'

'Besides, he'd leave a note,' she said.

'I don't know why the others didn't leave a note. Joey might forget, but I don't see the others forgetting.'

'I guess Ross was too excited at getting out. I've done my best,' Emily said, 'There's only so much I can do on my own. And you've all helped when you could.'

'Don't worry Emily,' Monica said.

'But I don't know where he is, I don't know if he's all right.' They walked into Central Perk and sat in the chairs. 'I don't even know what to do next.'

'Well at least he's with two other people,' Monica said, 'He can't come to any harm.'

**Coney Island 2**

Picture Ross, Rachel and Joey at the rollercoaster

_'Wheeee!' Ross exclaimed as they went around a killer bend. Rachel's knuckles on the handrail were white. Joey's face was turning green. He really wished he hadn't had the fairy floss. _

_The ride ended._

_'Let's do it again,' Ross said, as Joey staggered off on his own._

**Central Perk**

Emily and Monica had split up the search to visit each of the possible apartments the three could possibly be in. They had not found any sign of them, but had brought back Chandler and Phoebe to discuss the problem with.

'So, where could they be?'

'Have they been at here?' Chandler asked at the end.

'One of the waitresses said so,' Monica said, 'But she didn't know anything else.'

'They didn't leave any kind of note?' Chandler said. Emily looked at Monica.

'I ran back to the apartment to see if they'd turned up. When I lifted up the shopping and found this,' she produced the note. 'But it doesn't say anything except that they've gone out, and we've already worked that out.'

'Well, I guess the only thing you can do is wait for them to come back,' Chandler said.

'They'll be home when they're hungry,' Phoebe nodded.


	4. Home Again

**Home again **

…and so the weary trio returned to Central Perk, weary and, yes, hungry.

It was only a matter of minutes after they had arrived until Emily, Monica, Chandler and Phoebe converged on them, having arranged to be tipped off to their arrival by Gunther. Ross, who had been lolling on the couch looking washed out and tired, sat up and looked alert.

'There you are!' Emily exclaimed. 'I've been so worried about you.'

'I can't believe you did that,' Monica said, this to all three of the miscreants. 'You know you've been completely irresponsible.

'You three have caused an uproar,' Chandler said, but he could see the funny side of it all so accompanied this with an eyebrow twitch. After all, they looked all right.

'I think they should all be sent to bed without supper,' Phoebe said.

'Hey,' Joey said, 'We did leave a note. No-one meant missing.'

'But you didn't say you were going to go to Coney Island,' Emily said.

'We didn't know we were going to Coney Island,' Rachel said, 'That was Ross's idea.'

'But you've got a broken leg,' Emily said.

'I know,' Ross said, 'But I just wanted to go out and do something different.'

'But if you'd wanted to go out, why didn't you say?' Emily asked. 'We always go out if you want to.'

'I know,' Ross said, 'But we don't just _go_ out. We decide to go out, and it's a hour before we do go out, because we've got to plan everything.'

'You like plans,' Monica said. 'Don't pretend you don't.'

'Yes, I do like plans,' Ross said, 'But sometimes it's just nice to go. To just open the door and go.' But then he winced and his upbeat mood could no longer hide his pallor. The day had taken more out of him than he had wanted to admit. Rachel bit her lip in consternation. She had done nothing wrong, though she could see that she was at risk of being blamed for it.

'I bet your impromptu plan left out the pain killers,' Emily said, rummaging through her bag.

'It's not that bad,' Ross lied.

'Yes it is,' said Rachel. 'That's why we came back. It was worse when he was walking around. But he didn't say it was that bad.'

'It isn't that bad,' Ross interrupted. Emily handed him the pain killers which he took without arguing.

'His leg isn't used to it yet,' Emily said, rummaging in her purse. 'It would be bound to ache after all that walking.'

'We thought it would do him good,' Joey said, while Rachel looked stony at the implied reprimand.

'The exercise would do him good, in the long run, with muscle strength and circulation and things, but it would have been better if he'd taken some pain killers before he went.'

'Hey, he's still in the room,' Ross said. 'I know my impromptu outing could have been better planned, but nothing actually went wrong. I never even came close to breaking my leg again, or breaking the other leg, or anything at all. I just got a bit tired, that's all. You've got to let me do things for myself,' Ross said.

'Did someone get that on tape?' Chandler joked, 'Emily, you'll have his own words to quote back at him forever now.' The others grinned.

'Seriously,' Ross cut in, 'I won't break in two if I go out and do stuff.'

'I just worry. You can't always control what happens to you,' she said.

'I know you worry, but I'm not going to let a car or van or bus or anything like that hit me again.'

'Or a motorbike,' supplied Joey.

'Thanks Joe,' Ross said shortly.

'Horse,' Joey added.

'What?' Rachel asked incredulously.

'Police horse,' Joey explained.

'Roller blader,' Chandler said. 'Large man running for bus. I sure wouldn't want to get in his way.'

'Who?' Joey asked, 'What large man? Have I met him?'

'Or anything else,' Ross said, to shut them up. 'And even if something does get me, after all, this is New York, then… stuff happens.' He wasn't quite as resigned to the possibility of being injured again as he'd tried to make out. 'I hope it doesn't. But otherwise, to be totally safe, I'd have to stay in the apartment all day.'

'And even that might not be safe,' Phoebe said, 'Because your apartment building might catch fire or collapse, or get overrun by giant rats.'

'Ugh!' said several at once.

'I thought you liked rats,' Chandler said.

'One by one I do, as long as they're not giant rats,' Phoebe said.

'That's good, I won't get you a giant rat for Christmas then,' Chandler said.

'Anyway,' Ross said, looking around, 'I wasn't the only reason we came back. Joey was sick. Very sick.'

'It was terrible,' Joey said.

'No descriptions, please,' Monica said quickly.

'To tell you the truth, I'm hungry,' Joey said. 'Let's order pizza.'


End file.
